SPEECH

BY
H.E YOWERI K. MUSEVENI
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA

TH
AT THE 58 INDEPENDENCE ANNIVERSARY

THEME: CELEBRATING UGANDA’S STEADY

PROGRESS TOWARDS ECONOMIC TAKE-OFF AND
SELF RELIANT ECONOMIC GROWTH

STATE HOUSE – ENTEBBE

TH
9 OCTOBER, 2020

Uganda’s economy has transformed to a level where the

Country will be self-sufficient and achieve sustainable
economic growth and job creation. Point five (5) of the NRM
10-Point Programme is “Building an independent, integrated
and self-sustaining national economy”. We have built a firm
foundation to achieve this objective.
The agricultural sector has been transformed to a level where
it will be a major source of wealth creation for all hard-
working Ugandans. The rate at which the manufacturing base
is expanding is unprecedented. 168 manufacturing industries
and factories were built in the last Financial Year that ended in
June, 2020. The value of new investments in the last year
were at 1,191,230 US$ million. This will create sustainable
jobs for all Ugandans especially for the youth and women.

As a result of diversification of our economy and expanding

our export base, our economy has been able to withstand the
potential negative impact of COVID-19. Our economy, last
Financial Year, grew by 3.2 percent per annum, compared to
negative growth rates in many other countries in Africa and
around the world. If COVID-19 had not disrupted our
economic activities, our economy would have achieved a
growth rate of about 7% per annum last Financial Year. This
resilience of our economy is by no means accidental. It has
been a deliberate focused effort by the NRM Government to
build an independent, integrated and self-sustaining national
economy, that is able to feed its people, generate the resources
it needs, both human and financial, provide security to its
people and their property and develop a prosperous nation.
We have made very important strides along this path and we
shall not turn back to a chaotic Country that we inherited in
1986.
The main challenge hindering the pace of our prosperity
include the high cost of capital with very high interest rates
for the private sector. To address this, Government has
increased the capitalization of Uganda Development Bank
with UGX 1.045 Trillion this Financial Year. The second
challenge remains the high cost of electricity for which we are
working hard to complete the transmission lines to evacuate
power from Karuma Dam to the manufacturing hubs inland
and to export excess power to our neighbouring countries of
DRC and South Sudan. The third challenge is low
productivity of agriculture. In this regard Government is
investing in irrigation infrastructure and supporting the private
sector to increase local production of fertilisers. The fourth
challenge is poor infrastructure connecting to our regional
trade with DRC and South Sudan for which we have reached
Agreements to jointly develop the required infrastructure,
especially power and roads.
Private Investment
In terms of private investment, the number of licenced
projects by the Uganda Investment Authority increased from
247 in Financial Year 2017/18 to 286 in Financial Year
2018/19. Planned capital investment increased from USD 877
million to USD 1,300 million in the same period. The number
of jobs that would be created was estimated at 59,940 in
Financial Year 2018/19, doubled the number in the previous
year at 23,816. The manufacturing sector would employed
21,260 workers.

With the development of industrial parks and free economic

zones, the number of new investments will increase
exponentially, creating huge employment opportunities. The
three growth and investment corridors which will guide public
investment in the Country include: the Eastern growth
corridor which will follow the current Single Meter Gauge
Railway that runs from Bukedi-Bugisu-Teso-Lango-Acholi
Sub-regions; the Albertine growth corridor which is composed
of the Kigezi-Toro-Bunyoro Sub- regions; and the Northern
growth corridor which encompasses areas of Kampala
Metropolitan areas including Wakiso and Mukono, Greater
Buganda and Ankole.

Public investments to be undertaken in this regard include: (i)

electricity power sub-stations; (ii) extending industrial power
lines; (iii) extending water for industrial use; and (iv) building
road and ICT infrastructure. The immediate focus will be the
Kampala Industrial and Business Park (KIBP) at Namanve,
Mbale, Kapeeka, Bweyogerere, Kasese, Soroti, Luzira, Jinja
and Mbarara. We shall expand to other areas as we collect
more revenue.
External Inflows
The demand for our export goods remained strong even when
there were disruptions in trade supply chains globally. This is
because we have a very diversified export base. We recorded
US$ 3,823 million in export of goods in the Financial Year
ending June, 2020; export of mineral products were worth
US$ 1,221 million while coffee fetched us US$ 497.4 million.
Fish was US$ 180 million, Maize was US$ 123 million. The
Middle East, East African Community and COMESA account
for almost 80 percent of our export demand. Workers
remittances for Ugandans working mainly in Europe, USA
and Middle East and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
remained resilient despite the global impact of COVID-19.
Domestic Manufacturing
Production of manufactured goods increased as follows:
Sugar production is at 540,000 Metric Tonnes, with
consumption at 380,000 Metric Tonnes and surplus at 190,000
Metric Tonnes; Cement has reached 8m Metric Tonnes. Steel
production recorded 289,183 metric Tonnes in 2018 but was
slightly lower in 2019 at 219,194 metric Tonnes. Beer and soft
drinks recorded slightly lower production mainly due to
under-declaration. However, this problem will be addressed
with the installation of Digital Stamps infrastructure in major
manufacturing factories.
Transport Development
The NRM Government has invested heavily in transport to
improve the Country’s connectivity through a vast network of
good roads and restoration of Uganda Airlines. We now have
a total of 5,550km of paved roads. In addition, Government
commenced construction of strategic roads in the Albertine
region to facilitate production of Oil and Gas, as well as
commencement of Hoima Industrial Park which is aimed at
building a strong industrial base in the region to support local
economic development.
Some of these strategic roads include:-
• Masindi-Park Junction and Paara-Buliisa
(159km);
• Hoima-Butiaba- Wanseko (111 km)
• Buhimba-Nalweyo-Bulamagi & Bulamagi-
Igayaza-Kakumiro (93km); and
• Masindi-Biiso, Hohwa-Nyairongo-
Kyarusheesha-Butoole and Kabaale-
Kiziranfumbi (97km)
Other roads nearing completion (at least 75% completion)
include: Bulima-Kabwoya (66Km); Kyenjojo-Kabwoya
(100Km); Mubende-Kakumiro-Kagadi (107Km); Bumbobi-
Lwakhakha (44.5KM); Soroti-Katakwi-Akisim (100KM);
Akisim-Moroto (50KM); Kapchorwa-Suam (73Km); and
Kyenjojo-Fort-Portal (50Km).
The procurement of a contractor to rehabilitate the Tororo-
Gulu Railway line has also been concluded. This will provide
an efficient, reliable, cheaper means of transport of cargo and
to support economic activity along the corridor.

The Governments of Uganda and the Democratic Republic of

Congo signed an Agreement to work together on three (3) key
road networks connecting the two countries. These roads are:
Goli-Mahagi-Bunia; Mpondwe-Beni; and Bunagana-
Rutshure-Goma. The total length is 1,182 Km.

Energy and Mineral Development

The construction of Isimba and Karuma Hydro Power Plants
and several other investments in the energy sector have
significantly contributed to power generation and power
security. The current installed generation capacity is 1,254
MW. This will increase to 1,800 MW once Karuma is
completed in December this year. This means, therefore, that
the constriction of the transmission lines to evacuate this
power must be completed without further delays. These lines
include Karuma-Kawanda (400KV), Karuma-Olwiyo
(400KV), and Karuma-Lira (132KV).

Cabinet approved the Mineral Policy last year and a new law
on mining and minerals will soon be in place to promote and
streamline the regulation of mineral exploration, development,
production and value addition. Currently, mining activities
have been organised and registered in Karamoja, Mubende,
Namayingo, Ntungano, and Isingiro Districts.
Science, Technology and Innovation
Government has prioritized investment in science and
innovation as part of our strategy for self-reliance and
modernization. Under the Kiira Motor Corporation project,
two electric buses have so far been developed and the
construction of the vehicle assembly plant in Jinja is currently
on-going. This is expected to be completed by June, 2021.

Education and Health

This year’s school education calendar has been disrupted by
COVID-19. However, new methods of learning are being
tested to ensure that our children continue to learn. To
improve learning in UPE schools, Government will strengthen
supervision and ensure accountability for school outcomes.
As regards health, Government will increase focus on proper
nutrition especially in the early years of child development, in
addition to improving further the health infrastructure and
ensuring provision of medicines in health facilities across the
country.

Uganda’s significant Economic Opportunities

Uganda’s economic outlook is positive. The COVID-19

pandemic has helped us to, once again, demonstrate the
economic capacity and opportunity that our country has. The
measures undertaken to prevent the further spread of the
disease have helped those who could not see the opportunities
and comparative advantages of Uganda to now see them
clearly especially, in the areas of local production, import
replacement to enable us use our foreign currency for more
strategic issues, increase exports and creation of jobs.
 Import Substitution Opportunities
I recently guided the Country, that in order for us to build a
stronger and more resilient economy, we must address eight
fundamental human needs namely; Food, Clothes, Shelter,
Defence, Human Resource Development (Health and
Education), and infrastructure (electricity, roads, railway, ICT,
Telecommunications). With these in place, other sub-sectors
will emerge and these include; tourism, hospitality (hotels,
bars, night clubs, casinos etc.) as well as entertainment
(concerts, sports etc.). The COVID-19 pandemic, therefore,
provides great opportunities for us to accelerate our import
substitution and export promotion drive in the context of
enhanced investments in the eight fundamental human needs,
based on the strong comparative advantages we have.

The guiding principle in Uganda’s import substitution and

export promotion strategy, is creating production efficiency
using locally available resources (including human resources),
minimizing costs and maximizing profitability while
increasing production and productivity of enterprises. It also
means producing high quality products at low cost. This will
result in high demand locally, regionally and globally for our
products.
Unfortunately, we import items which we can and have
capacity to produce here locally. For example, in 2019, we
imported live animals and animal products worth USD 24
million; vegetable products including cut flowers, potatoes,
legumes (beans, soya, etc.), USD 340 million on animal or
vegetable fats and oils worth USD 240 million;
pharmaceutical products worth USD 300 million; mineral
products including salt, sulphur, plastering materials, lime and
cement worth USD 127 million; mineral fuels, mineral oils
and products of their distillation, bituminous substance,
mineral waxes worth 1,250 million; fertilizers worth USD 41
million; plastics and related products worth USD 370 million;
paper and paper board and their pulp worth USD159 million;
textiles and textiles articles worth USD 290 million; and iron,
steel, copper, aluminium and zinc worth USD 483 million.

The reason I have mentioned all these items is that we have

their raw materials and can be produced here, to replace their
importation. Some of them do not require huge capital
investments. But even if they were expensive for our private
sector, we can have joint ventures with outside companies or
with Government in form of Public-Private Partnerships. We
are simply sleeping on the huge wealth potential that we have.
Joint ventures are good to attract the necessary technologies
that we do not have and to acquire skills in highly specialised
areas.
I am glad that some manufacturers have responded positively
in the wake of COVID 19 pandemic to produce the essential
items that we need, including hand sanitizers, masks,
increased production of pharmaceutical products, etc. We now
have the opportunity to forcefully harness our comparative
advantages in agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, mineral
development, oil and gas, scientific research, innovation, etc.
by employing our youth and using our local raw materials to
produce goods and services for local consumption, as input
into local manufacturing and for export.

There is almost unlimited potential in agriculture as a base for

agro-industrialization which we must harness. For example,
Uganda produces 5 million tonnes of maize annually. From
maize we can obtain animal feeds for livestock and poultry,
bakery and confectionery, ethanol, starch for pharmaceuticals
on which the country currently spends US$ 20 million per
year. Another case is cassava which the Country also annually
produces 4.1 million tonnes. Apart from addressing the
Country’s food needs, many by-products can come from
cassava. I am told that out of cassava, there are 39 industrial
products.

Export Opportunities
There are areas where opportunities have opened up to
increase our exports. For example, the demand for Uganda’s
horticulture and coffee exports to Europe has gone up, and so
have pharmaceutical products in the EAC region, which we
must take advantage of. Between February and March, 2020,
coffee prices rose on account of rising global demand with
processors front loading orders to avoid logistical constraints
of COVID-19. The demand for Uganda’s flowers has equally
gone up with more orders coming in as production elsewhere
has drastically declined due to the COVID- 19 shut down in
those Countries.

Therefore, even with the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand

for some items will remain high both in the domestic and
external markets. I have already mentioned Coffee and
Horticultural exports but there are also:-
• Foods including, fruits and vegetables;
• Pharmaceutical and sanitary supplies;
• ICT solutions and services for businesses cutting labour
costs;
• Intermediate goods in construction, especially in the low-
cost housing segment; and
• Low cost clothing and foot-ware made out of our cotton
and leather.

Finally, with this potential, therefore, the long term impact of

COVID -19 on our Country is to strengthen our resolve to be
self-reliant by producing sufficient amount of goods and
services to meet our local demand and to increase our exports.

I wish you happy celebrations and I thank you all.